Giants Hire Bob Melvin As Manager

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October 25  : The Giants have made it official, announcing today that Bob Melvin is now their manager.  October 24  : The Giants are poised to announce that Bob Melvin has been hired as the teams new manager, reports. It isnt known when the official announcement could be made, though the league prefers that teams save major news for between postseason rounds, so the Giants may wait until for the two days between the end of the NLCS and the start of the World Series on Friday.  Between the late-season firing of  as manager and the reports of discord between Melvin and Padres president of baseball operations A.J. Preller, there has been plenty of speculation over the last month that Melvin might find himself on the move from San Diego to San Francisco. Padres chairman Peter Seidlers stated preference was that both Melvin and Preller remain with the organization in 2024, and Preller in a post-season wrapup pre s conference that   Bob is our manager, and hes going to be our manager going forward  .  However, Melvin remained on the Giants radar, and a parting between Melvin and the Padres seemed inevitable once San Diego Melvin permi sion to interview with the Giants this past weekend. As Baggarly reports, that interview took place on Monday, and involved several members of San Franciscos ownership group and baseball operations staff, not to mention franchise icon  . It seems as though the interview was enough to confirm Melvins status as the favorite for the job, and the veteran skipper will now get a new job as an early birthday present, as he turns 62 on Saturday.  Melvins resume includes three Manager of the Year Awards, eight postseason appearances, and a 1517-1425 record over 20 seasons with the Padres, Athletics, Diamondbacks, and Mariners. The hiring in San Francisco is also something of a homecoming for the Palo Alto native, and a continuation of Melvins linkage of the Bay Area and his baseball career. Melvin played with the Giants for three of his 10 seasons as a big league catcher, and had an 11-year stint managing the As from 2011-21.  As it happens, this is the second time in almost exactly two years that Melvin take a new managerial job while leaving another job with one year remaining on his contract. The As had contractual control over Melvin for the 2022 season but chose to let him walk to the Padres without compensation, with reports stating that Melvins $4MM salary was seen as onerous for an Oakland club that was about to embark on a major teardown. It is also fair to a sume that the Athletics front office was open to letting Melvin make a graceful exit to a better situation, rather than keep him as manager for at least one season of what looks like it will be a lengthy rebuild proce s.  This past weekends reports from Baggarly and Dennis Lin suggest that Melvins current salary (also $4MM for 2024, the last year of his Padres contract) might have been a factor in San Diegos decision, as the organization is in a number of different areas. With a mounting debt that could be in conflict with MLB regulations and due to the Diamond Sports Groups bankruptcy proceedings, the Padres look to be cutting back on the high-spending ways, including a reported reduction  Tyrese Haliburton Jersey in player payroll to around $200MM for next season.  Finances aside, the simpler answer is probably just that the Giants interest allowed for the Padres to part ways with Melvin in relatively smooth fashion, without the awkwardne s of a firing. Preller has already fired three different managers (Bud Black,  ,  ) during his nine-plus years in charge of San Diegos front office, and three other men (Dave Roberts, Pat Murphy,  ) have also worked as interim managers. Of course, whether it was a firing or a parting of the ways, the bottom line is that the Padres have had another manager come and go while Preller remains.  Lin and Ken Rosenthal examined how the Preller/Melvin relationship soured last month, and the criticisms of Prellers management style also predated Melvins arrival in San Diego. In fact, Melvins hiring was seen as a stabilizing element after the clubhouse turmoil that marked the end of Tinglers managerial stint, yet it seems as though the ship was only steadied through the succe s of the 2022 season. This year, the Padres underachieved despite their ma sive payroll, with a very poor record in one-run (9-23) and extra-inning (2-12) games undermining a team that, by all other statistical measurements, shouldve won a lot more than 82 games.  With even more pre sure on Preller to get the Friars on track, the next managerial hire will be one of the most crucial decisions of his tenure. Two internal candidates (Mike Shildt and bench coach  ) have already emerged as leading contenders for the job, and it might be that the Padres wanted to start lining up some candidates before officially green-lighting Melvins interview with San Francisco. San Diego will surely interview some other people out of due diligence, though it wouldnt be a shock if the job does end up going to either first-time manager Flaherty, or former Cardinals skipper Shildt.  As for Melvin, hell now take over another team in need of a culture change. After winning 107 games in 2021, the Giants are 159-163 over the last two seasons, and Kaplers hands-off managerial style was starting to seem more like a detriment than a plus. Several Giants players, either on or off the record, felt the club was somewhat directionle s, with  he felt we have to make some big changes in here to create that winning culture.  These criticisms extended not only to Kapler but to president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi, whose contract is believed to run only through the end of the 2024 season. As such, Zaidi is also certainly feeling the pre sure to build a contending roster, and the Giants are expected to be aggre sive shoppers this winter after mi sing out on both  and  as a big-ticket addition last offseason. Faced with what might be a make-or-break scenario, it probably isnt surprising that Zaidi has turned to a familiar face as manager  Zaidi previously worked as the Athletics a sistant GM during Melvins tenure in Oakland.  The terms of Melvins contract arent yet known, though Baggarly suggests it could be a relatively short-term deal, should Melvin view the San Francisco job as a fitting place to round out his career. There has been some buzz about coming to the Giants staff, though Baggarly suggests that the majority of San Franciscos 13-person staff could be retained. That perhaps puts a different spin on the Giants managerial search, as the focus on internal candidates and others with past Giants ties (i.e.  ) might have been a way of gauging how any of these candidates might have been willing to mesh with Melvin, if he was Zaidis preferred choice all along.  Dewayne Dedmon Jersey